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Actor and Alumnus David Boreanaz to Speak at Ithaca College Commencement

ITHACA, NY — Television and film actor David Boreanaz will return to his alma mater to deliver the main address at Ithaca College’s 118th Commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 19. He is best known for his starring roles on the television series “Bones,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel.”

Boreanaz will speak to some 1,610 graduates and their guests at the 10:00 a.m. ceremony at Butterfield Stadium. He earned his degree in cinema and photography in 1991 from the Roy H. Park School of Communications.

Also making remarks at Commencement will be Ithaca College president Tom Rochon, senior class president Rachel Heiss and board of trustees chairman Tom Grape ’80.

For more information on the ceremony, which will be webcast live on the Internet and televised on Time Warner Cable channel 16 in the Ithaca area, visit www.ithaca.edu/commencement.

For the past eight years, Boreanaz has earned rave reviews as FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth on the Fox crime drama “Bones,” where he helps bring justice for murder victims. He also serves as one of the show’s producers and has directed a number of episodes, including the season-ender which aired on April 29.

Boreanaz had gone to Hollywood shortly after graduating from Ithaca College, working a series of odd jobs before breaking into show business as an uncredited extra in such films as “Aspen Extreme” and then earning a guest-starring role as Kelly Bundy’s biker boyfriend on the television series “Married… with Children.”

But it wasn’t until 1997 that Boreanaz was thrust into the limelight — if not the daylight — when he was cast as the vampire-with-a-soul Angel on the WB network’s “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” For three seasons he played Buffy’s on-again/off-again 242-year-old love interest as the series gained a cult following. His character became so popular that a spin-off was created, giving him the opportunity to headline his own series for another five seasons.

Boreanaz has his share of big-screen acting credits as well, including the thriller “Valentine,” sports drama “The Mighty Macs,” black comedy “Suffering Man’s Charity” and crime drama “Officer Down.” He can be heard as the voice of the superhero Green Lantern in the animated feature “Justice League: The New Frontier.” On the stage, he has starred in off-Broadway’s “Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell” as well as in productions of “Hat Full of Rain,” “Fool for Love” and “Italian-American Reconciliation.”

In 2001, the Ithaca College Alumni Association recognized him with the Outstanding Young Alumni Award. In 2011, the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters jointly honored Boreanaz and his father — former longtime Philadelphia TV weatherman Dave Roberts — with its gold medal.